Anti-ScienceScience

Skepchick Quickies 2.15

Amanda

Amanda works in healthcare, is a loudmouthed feminist, and proud supporter of the Oxford comma.

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10 Comments

  1. WHOOPS! I mis-read that last headline, and thought it had something to do with yesterday's erotically charged theme.

    But now that the idea's in my head, I'm going to have to research how superorgasms relate to complexity and evolution.

    (And yes, I'll be leaving the bees out of my study.)

  2. Wow, this was a really depressing edition of quickies. :(

    But at least my all-female lab got 2 publications this year and a book chapter…although they are in psychology/neuroscience journals, so maybe that makes a difference.

    Better stop talking all smart and science-like and go dance on my pole now while eating a juicy steak…wait, I think I got that wrong…stupid girl brain. Why does my husband even let me out of the house?

  3. Sorry to be depressing, Kimbo! I suggest checking out the slug mating video I just posted as a remedy.

    I misread superorganisms, too. Geez, what a bunch of pervs we are.

  4. OK, OK, I read the feministing post on the vegan strippers… but what I don't get is this: Skepchick has a cheesecake calendar. Feministing has mud flap nudie chicks in the logo. But vegan strippers are somehow crossing the line. So where do you draw the line between good, ironic, empowering use of women as feminist sex objects, and bad, exploitative use of women as sex objects? I don't know the answer, I'm just asking the question because… well, I like to ask questions. And I'm not signing up for one more account so that I can comment there. Sorry. Can't do it.

  5. To me, flygrrl, it's the difference between women as people and women as objects. Calling women meat is grossly objectifying.

    Yep, we've got a cheesecake calendar. My assumption would be that people who buy a skeptical cheesecake calendar are not JUST buying it because it has sexy people to ogle but because those sexy people are also skeptical. Right there you're choosing to acknowledge a key personal detail and therefore the personhood of said cheesecake. If you just wanted nekkid people, there's the whole damn internet for that.

    The same could be said of the strip joint, except that the women don't have to be vegan to work there. It's just that all the food and drink s are vegan and I believe the strippers don't wear any animal products. Also, the owner's comments are still disgusting. (Sorry, I have a hard time getting past that.)

    And it's an interesting (if often heated) discussion to have about where the line is, so I'm glad you brought it up.

  6. Amanda, yes, it is an interesting (and often heated) discussion (so sorry I'm bringing it up days after the original post; it was a busy weekend). I agree that the owner's comments were a bit… in poor taste. But, I start to wonder sometimes at the argument that really puts it on the context of the viewer to determine whether something crosses the line or not. i.e. the intended audience determines the line between erotica and pornography, for instance. I'm not saying I don't buy your argument (re the Skepchick calendar), I'm just saying that you often see that line determined in sort of a classist way. Like, "oh, we've read feminist theory so when we take our clothes off it's different." Well, to who?

  7. It (the line) seems rather impossible to define, doesn't it? What one person will look at as tasteful erotica with full appreciation of the person involved, another will see pornography and be titillated by objectifying a human being. Then there's the intent of the maker, of course.

    I know that's a total cop-out of a comment but my own feelings are so all-over-the-place that I don't have anything definitive to say.

    I'm generally all about context but like you said, "I've read feminist theory so my stripping is feminist" just doesn't quite work for me.

  8. You know, the mention of meat and nude chicks so short after valentines day just reminded me of March 14th, International steak and blowjob day.

    Sadly, another one of those days that never actually coincided with my being in a relationship.

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